A healthy microbiome protects against eczema.

Eczema sufferers benefit from knowing that a healthy microbiome protects against eczema. It’s the population of microbes — bacteria, fungi and viruses — which shares their body space.

When you look at a person, be aware that there are more microbe cells than human cells in that person. This can be a terrible shock if you’ve been taught that all microbes are bad and dirty things. Sorry about that; you’ve been sold a very nasty lie!

The good news is that the vast majority of those microbes are on our side.

It suits them best if we stay in healthy balance.

When you maintain a healthy microbiome the good microbes control the bad ones for us.

But what do you do if a baby has bacterial sepsis and is about to die?

You treat with antibiotics.

We know antibiotics are a blunt weapon; they kill far more bacteria than we actually wanted. The baby’s life is saved at the expense of upsetting the microbiome balance. That’s one of the reasons why babies who’ve been treated with antibiotics have a greater chance of developing eczema.

Many other chemicals also upset the microbiome.

You’ll find them in food and many skincare products.

A baby who has received antibiotics may already have an upset microbiome making it really important that you take extra care to avoid even more upset.

Just as there are good and bad microbes, there are good and bad products. With experience you will learn which ingredients turn what seem to be good products into bad products. One that I like to emphasise is mineral oil in its various forms.

The great news is that you can still end eczema within weeks, even if the microbiome has been upset.